I learned pretty quickly how to translate Houston seasons into the more familiar northeast seasons. Basically fall and spring are offset two months either way: Pennsylvania October equals Houston December. Pennsylvania March equals Houston January. There is no winter since all winter months are accounted for by spring and fall. Instead, there is a six-month summer. What this means is that it's April here now. We are having moderately cold weather every other week, lots of rain, but starting to see signs of the leaves coming out on the trees. And some spring flowers. The weekend before last was beautiful, so I took advantage of that and visited the Japanese Tea Garden (left) and the zoo.

And while I miss winter, I do appreciate the early spring.